What does tougher gun regulations look like?

I recall that recent polls indicate that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of tougher gun laws.

But guns are a constitutional right and are not going anywhere. And Americans don't necessarily want to give up gun ownership all together.

So, the question becomes what exactly do tougher gun regulations actually look like? What do we really want?

 

There's the crux of the matter. Do the gun control advocates want the laws being pushed by Mom's, the Presudent, the Democratic Party and The Trace, or do gun control advocates want gun violence rates for homicide, suicide, school shootings and mass shootings like the UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand?

These are nowhere near the same goals.

 

This is an excellent question. Bear in mind, what they want and what they say they want may be two totally different things.

 

"What do we want?" takes a back seat to "What does the constitution allow?"

The anti-gun clowns refuse to understand this.

 

The constitution doesn't grant congress any power to enact gun legislation. So any regulation at the federal level would be unconstitutional.

 

And even if it did, the 2nd Amendment limits that power.

 

True. But it's important to point out that the US government has literally zero legislative authority regarding firearms.

 

The commerce clause gives it some power in that regard.
As do the militia clauses.

 

Owning a gun is not "commerce among the several states"

The militia clause concerns the militia, not individual firearm owners.

 

Selling a gun in Ohio that was manufactured in Massachusetts, however, is.

True, but the militia clause allows Congress to do things like require individuals to own a firearm suitable for service in the militia.

 

And congress has legitimate authority to regulate that commerce among the states. It can't, however regulate the purchase of that firearm by an individual in Ohio.

Okay, I'll look forward to such legislation.

 

Thus, defeating your "literally zero legislative authority regarding firearms" claim.

 

Nope. They have the power to regulate commerce among the states. They have no specific legislative powers related to firearms.

To clarify, congress has zero legislative powers regarding firearms, or shoes, or horses. Congress may impose legislation regarding how these things are traded between states. But they cannot make laws prohibiting the ownership and use of any of them. Or anything at all.

 

That wasn't your claim.
- literally zero legislative authority regarding firearms -
You agree that both of the powers I cited give it legislative authority regarding firearms.

OK, but that wasn't your claim..

 

Ah, so my claim was wrong. Thanks for pointing that out. They have the authority over firearms that are traded among the states. You are right there. I overlooked that.

However, they have zero authority over the ownership and use of firearms.

 

Not exactly true.
The militia clauses allow Congress to do things like require individuals to own a firearm suitable for service in the militia, and train with that firearm.

 

I look forward to such legislation.

 

Already happened.
Militia act of 1791.

 

I'll have to contact my local militia officer and ask WTF they've been doing all this time.

 

The Second Amendment was intended to make bearing arms mandatory not optional. That's why the possibility of allowing an exception for conscientious objectors was raised when Congress discussed an earlier draft of the Second Amendment. It was omitted from the final version because Congress thought it would be too much of a loophole.

 

The second amendment was intended to forbid US government legislation.

 

Getting back to the topic:

"Overall, 64% say they favor stricter gun control laws, with 36% opposed, little changed since a survey taken last summer in the wake of a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas....

"The poll finds near-universal public support, at 94%, for a proposal to prevent certain people, such as convicted felons or people with mental health problems, from owning guns, up 7 points from 2018. Support for a proposal to prevent people younger than 21 from buying any type of gun stands at 80%, up 9 points from five years ago. A smaller 59% majority of Americans favor a ban on the manufacture, sale and possession of rifles capable of semi-automatic fire, such as the AR-15, a number that’s relatively unchanged from 2018 – but up 10 points from the year prior."
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/26/politics/cnn-poll-gun-laws/index.html

 

Did the poll advise the respondents that the US government has no constitutional authority to make any such laws?

 

A wild, and completely unsupportable, assertion.

 

The enshrinement of constitutional rights - necessarily and intentionally - takes certain policy choices off the table --- regardless of how many people support those policies.